Chapter 1: There is no villain without a story

“Hey kids, time to eat~!”

A childcare worker announced, and the children, paired up in twos and threes, rushed to the dining hall.

I stayed back, slowly making my way to the dining hall.

“Maru is always so calm, unlike the other kids. So mature.”

A young childcare worker stroked my head.

Despite her praise, I maintained a calm expression.

‘Well, that’s because my mental age is twenty.’

I sighed at this ridiculous happening.

I never imagined I’d be reincarnated into the world of the webtoon ‘Hakdoyeon’ that I read out of boredom after the college entrance exam.

It’s a cliché that’s so overused in web novels that I’m sick of it, so I’ll skip the details.

I realized this world was the world of Hakdoyeon when I heard the name of the orphanage.

‘Haetsal Nuri Orphanage.’

The name was so memorable that it stuck in my mind when I read the webtoon.

I was an orphan in my original world, so I guess I was reincarnated into an orphanage in this life too.

I must be the first person to win the orphan title twice in a row.

But even with these circumstances, I didn’t readily believe that I had been reincarnated into a webtoon.

Because the social norms in this world were reversed.

‘Is this what they call a gender-reversed world?’

There were men’s parking lots instead of women’s parking lots, women were prevalent in politics and business, and women were physically superior.

Because of these crazy elements, I couldn’t immediately believe that I had been reincarnated into the world of Hakdoyeon.

Because Hakdoyeon was a world with normal gender roles.

Nevertheless, the reason I eventually acknowledged that I had been reincarnated into the world of Hakdoyeon was because of one character.

‘The main villain, Alex, spent his childhood at Haetsal Nuri Orphanage.’

Alex is the leader of the opposing force that constantly clashes with the main characters who attend Haneul High School. As the name suggests, he is of mixed race.

He is practically the ruler of the school district, and his adoptive family is a Korean conglomerate, so he is flawless.

Looks, family, academics, fighting… he was set up as a perfect superhuman, so he had a lot of female fans.

And today is the day that Alex is admitted to Haetsal Nuri Orphanage.

‘What do I care?’

No one knows if I will be admitted to a high school in Hakdo, and I didn’t want to get involved with a villain.

Even in the webtoon, there was no redemption arc, so I couldn’t empathize with Alex’s words and actions.

I didn’t want to know the villain’s past in depth, nor did I want to become friends with him, so I planned to live quietly in the orphanage, quietly attend a high school outside of Hakdo, and live a normal life.

But life doesn’t always go as planned.

“Everyone, we have a new friend joining us today. Let’s give them a round of applause!”

Everyone’s eyes widened at the sight of the foreign girl who appeared holding hands with the vice-principal.

The children at the orphanage showed blatant curiosity towards her, whose appearance was different from theirs.

“Wow, her hair is yellow.”

“Her eyes are blue, she must be sick.”

The children expressed pure cruelty without filter, evaluating the new girl.

“This child’s name is Alice. She will be staying in the girls’ room on the second floor, and please let her know the orphanage schedule. Now, we need to choose a helper…”

No one readily raised their hand.

It was a role with a lot of annoying tasks, and they were wary of the unfamiliar child, Alice.

And I didn’t raise my hand either. Because…

There is a high possibility that Alice is the TS version of Alex.

Looking at the circumstances, that’s the right way to see it.

‘The adoption date in the webtoon is exactly today, and it was said that Alex was the only adoptee today.’

And the names were similar.

Alice.
Alex.

Perhaps what changed in this world was not only the social norms, but also the genders of the main characters.

‘Then all the main male characters I knew…?’

A headache suddenly came on.

Hakdoyeon is a school webtoon, so fighting and power struggles were commonplace.

It would be cool if men were sweating and bleeding, but it felt strange to think of women doing that.

I decided not to take on the role of Alice’s helper.

If my guess is correct, that girl will become the worst villain who ruthlessly ravages Hakdo in the future.

There’s no need to get involved.

At that moment, my gaze, which was looking at Alice, met her blue eyes head-on.

Our eyes met.

I quickly looked away, but out of the corner of my eye, I could feel Alice staring intently at me.

“Alice? Who are you looking at, ah… Well, since no one is volunteering, how about Maru being the helper?”

The vice-principal noticed the strange atmosphere between us and pointed at me with a sly smile. Was that person a shipper?

‘No, why did you look at me!’

If I looked away, it would be normal for Alice to look away as well, but she kept staring at me.

Anyway, the situation ended with me becoming Alice’s helper.

With a gloomy expression, I dragged Alice around and introduced her to the orphanage.

“This is the yard. You can come out and play during playtime.”

“This is the dining hall. Come here to eat during mealtimes.”

“This is the study room. Just finish the day’s worth of workbooks.”

I explained as concisely and briefly as possible.

While doing so, I kept an eye on Alice, but she just stared blankly at the places I introduced without any particular reaction.

Her expression was so devoid of emotion that it was chilling.

‘What on earth did she go through…?’

The circumstances of children entering the orphanage are all the same, but Alice seemed to be on a different level.

Perhaps it was because of her doll-like appearance, but because she didn’t show any expression, it was inorganic to the point of not feeling human.

‘That’s why she becomes a villain.’

If Alice had a normal childhood, would the story have gone in a different direction from the webtoon?

‘It’s a meaningless assumption.’

As we were leaving the study room, we heard the sound of several children running away.

They were the children who had been peeking at us just a moment ago.

If they were so curious, shouldn’t they have just volunteered to be helpers themselves?

The children seemed to want to approach Alice, but because Alice’s appearance was so heterogeneous and she showed no emotion, they couldn’t approach her easily.

Even I, who was right next to Alice, felt a chill from her.

Then.

Grrr.

A sound like a horn blaring came from a stomach.

It wasn’t me.

Alice slowly lowered her head and stared at her stomach.

Then she raised her head and looked at me.

“…Are you asking for food?”

“……”

A silent affirmation.

I pointed to the dining hall.

“Then go to the dining hall and grab something to eat. You’re not normally allowed to eat outside of mealtimes, but since it’s your first day, it should be okay.”

“……”

But even at my words, she didn’t budge. As if she couldn’t go alone.

“What, did you not memorize the way?”

Shake, shake.

She shakes her head to express negation.

Then it means she wants me to go with her.

‘Was she always like this when she was young?’

It wasn’t revealed in the webtoon, so I had no way of knowing.

“Let’s go…”

I let out a drooping voice and guided her to the dining hall.

There was no one in the dining hall when we arrived.

But the steamed potatoes left over from lunch were still in the pot.

“It’s still warm because it was kept warm. Come here.”

I sat down at the table with the pot. Alice also followed me and sat down next to me.

I peeled the potato skin and placed it on her plate.

I also peeled the skin and took a bite of the potato.

‘The seasoning is really good.’

While munching and eating, I looked at Alice and saw that she was still holding the potato and blowing on it.

“It should be cool enough by now, why don’t you just eat it?”

At my words, she opened her small mouth and took a bite.

And her pure white cheeks moved erratically. She must be chewing hard.

I also chewed on the potato silently, savoring the taste, when I heard intermittent sobs.

I turned my head to look at the source of the sobbing.

Tears were rolling down from Alice’s blue eyes as she mumbled.

Even while crying silently, her mouth didn’t stop and continued to break down the food.

Her small shoulders trembled, and her skinny legs were drawn up.

The ruthless villain I knew was nowhere to be seen.

“……”

Thinking about it now, this seems to have been the turning point.

Whether to ignore Alice’s tears and still regard her as a vicious villain.

Or to be moved by her tears and regard her as a girl worthy of sympathy.

The time to choose was short.

I reached out and wiped her eyes with a tissue.

Her blue eyes turned to me.

‘This Alice hasn’t committed any crimes yet.’

And if, just if, she could change.